Beneath the Opera House
by BecFace11
Summary: Underneath the Camelot Opera house lives a mysterious dark haired man.
1. A Chandelier in Pieces

Merlin sighed and got up from his chair. The rehearsal would be starting soon and it would be nice to hear some new music. The new production was _Armida_ by Rossini. He liked Rossini.

He wandered over to his scrying glass to watch.

It was the first time Arthur had visited his father's opera house since he'd been a child. As soon as he'd been able, he'd moved to America to get away from his father. It wasn't that he didn't love his father, but after his mother died when he was 12 his father had spent even more time locked away in his office at the opera house and Arthur had had to just get away.

Now he was back and his father was starting to talk about the possibility of him taking over the running of Camelot Opera.

"Arthur. How nice to see you again. How you've grown!"

He turned round to see Gaius. He'd used to look after Arthur when his father refused to come out of his office. He technically worked for Camelot, but Arthur had never been sure quite what he did.

"Gaius! It's good to see you too," He said shaking the old man's hand.

"Your father has instructed me to bring you through to watch the rehearsal. They're just starting a new production."

Arthur followed Gaius into the large auditorium. On the stage was a woman he presumed was Helen Mora, the current prima donna. She had a very good voice.

Arthur was going sneak into a seat near the back so he didn't interrupt, but as soon as his father noticed him he waved for everyone to stop and came striding over.

"Arthur! Let me introduce you to everyone," he said leading Arthur onto the stage. "This is Helen Mora, our leading lady for 9 seasons now."

"It's a pleasure. I'm looking forward to seeing you perform tonight."

"Why don't I give you a private rendition? There's a small piece I composed and I would love to perform it for you, as long as you don't mind, Uther."

"Of course not. That would be lovely. Do you need accompaniment?"

"No. I'll do without."

Arthur followed his father back into the stalls to listen. Helen moved to centre stage and began to sing. Her voice was stunning. He didn't understand the words but her singing was so full of emotion. He almost felt as if he were under a spell. He was completely engrossed in her voice.

Suddenly he was drawn out of his trance when her singing turned to a scream.

He stood up, disorientated. Helen was lying in the middle of the stage, crushed by a chandelier.

"Oh my god!" breathed Arthur rushing onto the stage.

"Shit," said Merlin.

He hadn't actually meant to kill her, just knock her out until he could work out if there was anything he could do, but he'd had so little time he'd panicked. He'd been having a nice time, just listening to Helen rehearse when it had been interrupted by a blonde man called Arthur who he presumed was Uther's son.

When Helen had said she would sing her own composition, he'd actually been looking forward to it, but as soon as she's started singing, he'd felt it. The power building up, and he'd known, even though he couldn't understand the words, that she was going to kill Arthur. He also knew it wasn't Helen doing this. Helen would never want to break Uther like that. She loved her work. She must be possessed or something.

Without even thinking what he was doing, he found himself in box five, sending the chandelier crashing down on her head.

Once she was dead, and he was able to breathe, the reality of what he'd done hit him. He'd killed the star of Camelot Opera.

A voice from below broke through his thoughts.

"What are we going to do about tonight? A full house and we'll have to cancel!"

Uther was already storming off towards his office when an idea struck Merlin.

He hurried out of the box, staying in the shadows. When he got down to his lair, he ran to his writing desk.

"Archimedes. I need you to take a letter to Uther," he said to the owl perched nearby.

He scribbled down a quick note then tied it to her leg.

"He'd better not cancel. I was looking forward to the performance."

Uther slumped in his chair, head in hands.

"But father, what about Helen?" asked Arthur.

"Gaius'll sort that. More importantly, we're going to have to refund a full house!"

For a moment Arthur didn't reply, then he said, "Isn't there an understudy?"

"There was, but she left last week and hasn't been replaced yet."

Just then there was a quiet hoot from outside the window.

"Ah, that'll be Archimedes with a letter from Emrys," said Uther.

"Emrys?"

"Oh, just a rather eccentric patron. He's sort of like the Opera house's guardian angel. I have no idea how he gets his information, but he always knows what's going on. Hopefully he'll have a solution for us."

While he was speaking, he walked over to the window and let in the owl perched on the windowsill. There was a small roll of paper attached to its leg.

Uther detached the letter and proceeded to read it. His eyebrows went up.

"Morgana?"

"What?" asked Arthur.

Uther handed him the letter. It was written in a very messy hand.

**_Uther,_**

**_I am very sorry to hear about Helen Mora. I will miss hearing her voice._**

**_I know you don't have an understudy and I thought I would suggest casting Morgana in the role. She has an amazing voice. Let her sing for you and I'm sure you will agree._**

**_Your loyal friend,_**

**_Emrys_**

"Morgana can sing?" asked Arthur.

"Apparently."


	2. The Unseen Genius

Morgana was tidying up the makeup, humming to herself. She'd worked at Camelot Opera for 8 years ever since Uther had adopted her after her father had died. She'd started off just running small errands for the actors, but then had moved to doing make-up. It wasn't the most appreciated job, but it was important and she enjoyed herself.

"Morgana!" said Uther, bursting in. "Sing for us."

"What?" asked Morgana, startled.

"Sing something for us," repeated Uther.

"Umm, why?"

"Do you know the big aria from act two?"

"Sort of, but…"

"Be on stage in 10 minutes," interrupted Uther. "You will sing it for us."

With that, Uther strode out.

"What on earth was that about?" wondered Morgana.

She quickly finished tidying up the rushed towards the auditorium. On the way she bumped into Gaius.

"Gaius! Do you know what's going on? Uther wants me to sing for him."

"Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"A chandelier fell on Helen earlier."

"Oh my god. Is she okay?"

" I'm afraid she's dead," said Gaius grimacing.

Morgana drew in a shocked breath.

"You'd better go to Uther. He's probably already pacing."

Sure enough, when Morgana stepped out of the wings onto the stage, Uther was in danger of wearing a grove across the front of the stage.

"Ah, Morgana. Are you ready? Great. Come here and sing."

Morgana walked to the front of the stage, still slightly bemused. Once she was there, Uther nodded at Geoffrey who was seated at the piano, and he began to play.

She'd never sung in front of anyone before, so she was very nervous. She almost missed her entry, only Geoffrey glancing up at her made her come in in time.

"I really hope Emrys was right about this," muttered Uther.

Morgana began to sing, her voice timid, but slowly she grew more confident. By the final verse, she was giving it her all, her voice filling the large space completely. Many of the stagehands had emerged and were listening mouths open wide, as if they had forgotten how to close them. Even the usually stern Geoffrey was beaming.

She held the last note for what seemed like forever, then there was a stunned silence, only broken by Audrey, the costume supervisor, bursting into a round of applause which quickly grew as others joined in.

She glanced over at Uther, not quite sure what reaction to expect. He had a slight smile curving his lips.

"I expect you to do me proud tonight," he said, then turned and left.

Morgana had no idea what to do.

For the first time in ages, Merlin arrived in his box early. He couldn't wait for tonight's performance. He was sure it would be one that would go down in history. Also he felt an almost fatherly pride for Morgana. He remembered the first time he'd heard her singing to herself alone in a dressing room. He had been stunned by her voice. After that, he'd used his magic to encourage her to sing more and her voice had blossomed. Now he was able to show her off.

Something inside him clenched at the thought that she would never know of his support and admiration, but he ignored it. He was used to being invisible by now. He knew he would never be properly acknowledged. Even as Emrys, although Uther had come to respect his opinions, he was never truly acknowledged for all he had done.

Merlin sighed to himself and settled down to watch the performance.

"You were amazing!" said Gwen, once she had found Morgana hiding in her dressing room. "Why did you never tell anyone you could sing like that?"

Morgana hid her face, overjoyed by the praise.

"I never thought Uther would take me seriously," she admitted. "And I'm nowhere near as good as Helen was."

"No. You're a million times better," corrected Gwen. "Where did you learn to sing like that?"

"Nowhere really. I just sing when I'm alone. Sometimes it feels like there's someone there with me, guiding me, but that's just silly. When I was little, I used to have dreams of a tall man with dark hair and blue eyes who taught me to sing, and I've always imagined him there with me. I know it's silly, but it helps me, pretending there's someone there, behind the scenes to support me."

Morgana laughed at herself.

"Like your own angel of music," said Gwen dreamily.

"Exactly" agreed Morgana.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Morgana.

The door opened to reveal Arthur.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your performance tonight. You were, well, you were stunning."

"Thank you Arthur. I can see you've changed since I last saw you. Much less of the spoilt brat. Almost a gentleman!" she teased.

Arthur frowned. "Yes, well. Anyway, how would you like to come out to dinner to celebrate?"

"I'm afraid not," said Morgana. "The performance has taken it out of me and I'm planning on an early night. Maybe another time."

She dismissed him with a wave of her hand and turned back to Gwen.

"Would you leave me? I'd just like some time to myself before I go home."

"Of course," said Gwen, smiling. " I'm so proud of you."

With one last smile at Morgana, she turned and left the dressing room, leaving Morgana alone.

Morgana hadn't been lying when she'd said she was exhausted. As soon as she was alone she felt her eyelid start to droop. She tried to resist, but it was futile. She was so tired she didn't even notice how all the candles in the room suddenly extinguished themselves as her eyes closed. She was dead to the world.

Merlin had been watching Morgana through the mirror of her dressing room, feeling the pride swelling. He could see her fatigue and had sent out a small pulse of magic to help her sleep, but he hadn't been expecting the answering pulse that came from Morgana.

He stared speechlessly at the extinguished candles, not sure what to do. All he knew was that someone had extinguished those candles with magic, and it wasn't him, it was Morgana.


End file.
